So this is happening...

I'm not a journalist by trade, and this could easily be a bizarre little post in due time, but there's a tank with between 6,000 and 7,000 gallons of methyl methacrylate in Garden Grove in "crisis mode" and overheating at the time of this post. Orange County Fire Authority Division Chief Craig Covey is quoted thusly: "This thing is going to fail, and we don't know when." One bad scenario is it bursts open, releasing a wave of toxic chemical onto the surrounding concrete and a plume of toxic gas into the air. They've been sandbagging the parking lot just in case, trying to halt possible runoff into the drains, creeks, and ocean.

A different, far worse possibility, would be the methyl methacrylate tank exploding instead of rupturing.

There has been a mandatory evacuation order set place, with residents being told to flee for their safety (!). They've been evacuating the area all day, closing schools, going door to door, setting up centers for the 40,000 or so residents to wait it out.

This is about 16 miles away, and I took the kids to their swim class at 3:30 just outside the evacuation order boundary.

Here's an NPR link if you'd like some ongoing updates.